


Why Lisa Doesn't Come Around Any More

by knitmeapony



Category: Tomorrow People (1992)
Genre: Gen, Yuletide, challenge:Yuletide 2008, recipient:EstiRose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-12-25
Updated: 2008-12-25
Packaged: 2017-10-25 17:02:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/272662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/knitmeapony/pseuds/knitmeapony





	Why Lisa Doesn't Come Around Any More

Now that their parents knew, they could spend hours at one another's houses, popping from England to America to Australia with ease. Birthday parties were a no-brainer. Christmas was a real celebration -- a warm and sunny picnic with Adam's family, a traditional dinner with a tree with Lisa's mother, and then they all hurried off to England to watch the snow fall and the sun rise over late-night cocoa with Megabyte's dad.

There was a reason for the pattern, a reason they ended up in England so often. Well, two reasons, considering that with General Damon in control they were safe. But there was also the matter of Megabyte's house. Space to spare, easy to teleport into, and full of just the sort of things that they loved to play with. Megabyte had infected them all with his adoration of computers; by the end of the first month, they'd all connected in to this new 'internet' thing. Kevin had even put something up on the world wide web, a little web page with a simple note. _If you understand, if you're one of us, send word_.

Lisa was the first one to find it. She was searching for new ways to connect to people, ways to find others like them. She was always afraid that no one else would hear. She searched, read newsgroups until her eyes were sore and her fingertips raw. Put out little messages - not in code, that was Megabytes thing, but just hints, the kinds of things she knew she would repsond to. _Do you have a secret? Are you more different than even your friends know?_

She made friends quickly, and one of them offered her a code to this new site that he was developing. People can keep journals, he said. Private or public. And if you made them public... well, he was hoping people would make friends that way.

She wanted to make friends that way.

He called it LivingDiary, and she became an avid user so very quickly. This time, _she_ brought _Megabyte_ into things, which they both admitted was very strange.

"But we're starting to catch up to one another, have you noticed?" Adam leaned back on the sand on the island, considering the sunset across the water.

That made Kevin look just a bit worried. "...what do you mean?" Everything worried Kevin these days. They joked that his special gift from the ship, that was Tomorrow Fear -- the ability to worry about anything, any time, anywhere.

"I just mean that I know things I didn't think I could. I can do just about anything on a computer, now. I know all the lyrics to every showtune Lisa's mother has made her learn. And you, you put the tent back up yesterday without even asking how it worked."

"That could be anything." Lisa was dismissive. "We've been learning by watching, that's all. Anyway, I have to go." She got up and dusted off Adam's jeans -- the ones she was wearing, that she'd never given back. "I promised to meet someone on LivDi tonight. I'll see you guys later." And just like that, she was gone.

Adam exchanged a look with Kevin. This time, both of them were worried.

\----

That was just the first time she left them for her online journal. First, it was only now and then. Every month. Then a few times a month, then every week. Finally every time they met at all, she would leave.

 _Megabyte._ Adam called across the ocean. _Do you have a minute?_

 _Bring snacks,_ Kevin chimed in, and they could both almost _feel_ Megabyte's grin as he abandoned his homework. Ten minutes, and he was on the island, walking towards the with wet trousers -- he was still having teleportation issues -- and a huge smirk.

"Chips -- crisps, that is," he waved the bag happily. "And dip. And Mountain Dew in my backpack. What's up? Where's Lisa?"

"That's the problem." Adam rested his elbows on his knees. "When's the last time she came and no one was in trouble?"

Megabyte considered this as Kevin answered for him. "Never, that's when. She's always on that computer thing. Megabyte, she's on it more than you!"

"It's true." Megabyte frowned. "And I'll be the first person to say that that's not right."

They all considered that for a long minute while the chips were opened, the dip container passed around safely away from the sand.

"She keeps saying things I don't understand, too." Adam added, meditatively. "She told me all my bases belonged to her."

That made Megabyte laugh, at least, much to Kevin and Adam's puzzlement. "No, it's all your base are belong to... it's a thing. An internet joke. That's not so weird."

Kevin's forehead was wrinkled. "The cheeseburger thing too?"

"Yeah, the cheeseburger thing too. That goes with those pictures of..."

"... cats?"

"Yeah, cats. You've seen them?"

"No, she just projects them into my head when she makes the jokes."

That made Adam sit up straighter. "Projects them _into_ your head?" He frowned at the nod. "That's not good."

They finished the snacks and talked llong into the night -- all the jokes Lisa had told. All the bases, the macros, the Chuck Norris jokes. "I used to _like_ Chuck Norris," Megabyte said mournfully. "Now I can't even stand the sight of him."

But what could they do? They decided to just try to redirect the energy. If she went for the computer, they'd pull her off on some faux mission. Solution found, they celebrated with the last of the Mountain Dew and headed home.

\------------

It worked, at first. She'd come along as long as they could give her a reason. But eventually the addiction took hold again, and they began to suspect something darker at play. Now, when they touched her mind, they'd get a flash of something else before they heard her voice. Just little snatches, conversations with people who weren't there.

And then they started hearing them even when they didn't contact.

 _Drama bomb_ , they heard, rattling across their collective mental sphere. _She hacked their account and now it's spewing Russian poetry. I told her to stop, and she said 'no u'._

 _Lisa? What's going on?_

There was a long pause, and then _no u_ , and a visual of Lisa dissolving into giggles.

Without a word, they all flashed to her side, teleporting out to Virginia without hesitation... only to find her gone.

"What happened?" Adam shot Megabyte an accusitory look.

"I don't know! How am I supposed to know?"

"Don't you see it?" Kevin took a step forward and peered at her computer monitor, still blinking on her desk. "She's gone somewhere with this. She just keeps showing me a picture of a computer, over and over..."

He took another step towards the machine, but Megabyte cut him off. "I've never seen any program like this... this isn't my fault, she's beyond me now." He extended his hands over the keyboard of the machine, and for a second there was a flicker, lights glowing under the keys, and then with a pop and a sizzle it started to smoke.

And it was still running. Adam dove for the plug as Megabyte clutched his head at the feedback. The plug popped easily from the wall.

And the computer... it was still running.

"What happened?" Kevin was all but hiding behind Lisa's dresser now, and they could hear her mother's feet coming up the hall.

"Adam, is that you?" Her mother stuck her head in. "Lisa's out... she asked me to give you this when you came in." A little card, with a picture of a very disapproving rabbit on the front.

\-------------

 _Guys:_

I can't always get my words out straight, so I'm writing this while I still have my mind. That LivingDiary, it infects your mind. It takes over your life and it takes over your head.

All those weird things I've been saying to you, its because I can't help it. It's like a reflex and it's starting to really take over. I can't let my mind touch yours any more. I don't want the memes to spread.

I know you guys'll want to help -- you're the best at that. But this one you can't work on without getting infected too. I'm at the ship right now -- I teleported in on the back side of the island -- and I'm having the ship undo some of the things in my head. I won't be able to infect you after that, but I won''t be able to connect, either. I'll only be able to say hi if you contact me.

Be careful. Stay away from things that get stuck in your head. I don't know who this guy is who invented LivDi, but I can tell you he wants to take over everything. I'm starting to be able to hear him in the memes that he pushes out on the journals. Maybe someday soon I can confront him. I think mostly I'll be waiting, though.

Don't tell mom. Pretend everything's all right, and just stop coming by. It'll be easier if she isn't always hanging around trying to cure me.

I'll be back when I've figured this out.

I'll miss you.

Lisa

\-------------

So Lisa's gone. They never saw her again, not in the flesh. But sometimes they hear music, and they know it's her. Something she kept flashing to them, every time they tried to call her. For one brief second, they'd think they had connection, and then they'd hear that same tone. _Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down..._

  



End file.
